An Update And A Question

An update on my dear, little mother: Thank you for your many comments and emails and prayers for my dear mother. She came through her cataract surgery with flying colors. She is recovering more and more each day. I stayed with her after she came home on the day of surgery. Yesterday I took her back to the eye doctor for a check and things are going quite well. She rested at home through the afternoon until I arrived with a pot of hot turkey-vegetable-noodle soup, freshly made salad and delicious rolls for dinner together. It hit the spot – just what we needed. Each day my mother is seeing a bit better and she is amazed at the improved vision she has since the surgery. I teased her and said we won’t be able to sneak anything around her anymore! She’s a dear and we’re so glad this surgery is behind her. Late next month she will have the cataract removed from the other eye. Now we know what to expect and the questions have been answered. Time will tell what her vision capacity is – it’s too soon to tell right now but all signs are that things will be good. We both thank you for your love and support and words of encouragement.

On this damp, gray winter afternoon in Western Oregon my home is a maze of Christmas decorations, storage bins and things to be put back in their place after the busy holiday season. I have been working on a list of goals that I want to accomplish in the coming year and as I work to put all the seasonal decorations away my mind goes to a question that I’ve wanted to ask you for awhile. My ‘forgetter’ has worked overtime and I think I’d better ask it before the thought goes away again! Many of you dear blog friends have more than one set of dishes. I see your collections often as you share tablescapes and glimpses of your family celebrations. One or two of you have shared your storage areas for your multiple sets of china and all of the accompanying pieces. Now, I want to know – if you don’t have a closet or cupboard or butler’s pantry in your home, if you have to store them in a garage or basement setting – how to you store all of your dishes? Do you stack them neatly together on shelves? If you do, do you wrap them or put something between them? Do you store them in bins or boxes? If so, do you wrap them or protect them in some way? If you wrap them, what do you use?

I have gathered a wonderful set of Christmas china (seen here) and many accompanying pieces. If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile you know that I live on Holly Street and a few years ago my sweetheart suggested that we ‘feature’ holly in our Christmas decorations. I loved the idea and that began a whole new plan! For the first time this year I was able to fill the little corner hutch in my dining room with my holly china! It was such a delight to my heart. Now, as I put things away, it’s the perfect time to organize things and store them in a safe place. I have a wonderful, new storage cabinet ready for my sweetheart to assemble and install in the garage. It would be nice for my china and other decorating pieces. I have great cupboards and cubbies in the garage that would work well but I’m in a quandary how to best store my pretty dishes. So, I turn to you, my friends. Help, please!

Since this is the perfect time to get ready to start a new year, I’d like to organize myself a bit better than before. Your suggestions and help would be most appreciated. (I have big plans for decorating my little hutch next year. I’ll work on some of them through the year and you will see the difference about a year from now!)

(Here’s a little out-take! Do you see something that doesn’t belong in this photo? When I opened the lower doors on the hutch Joey decided to stick his head inside, sniff around and check it out!)